SKOWHEGAN — A Garland woman accused of killing her sister in Hartland pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Bonnie Coombs, 69, entered the plea to one count of murder during an arraignment at the Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan.

Coombs is charged with intentional or knowing murder in the death of Velma Withee, 78, on April 9. Police have said autopsy results indicated Withee, who was Coombs’ sister, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Wednesday’s proceeding was largely procedural and lasted only a few minutes; defendants in criminal cases in Maine do not enter pleas in high-level offenses until a grand jury returns an indictment. A Somerset County grand jury indicted Coombs when it met Aug. 14, court records show.

Superior Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen informed Coombs of the charge and accepted her not guilty plea. Coombs, shackled and wearing blue jail clothing, spoke briefly only to enter the plea.

No family or friends of Coombs or Withee attended the arraignment. Only staff from the attorney general’s office, a Maine State Police detective and news reporters sat in the gallery.

Coombs is being held without bail at the Somerset County Jail, and Mullen said she will continue to be held without bail pending a future hearing.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Bogue and Coombs’ court-appointed attorneys, James Howaniec and Mitch Roberge, were working Wednesday to find a date to schedule a bail hearing in September.

The attorneys also discussed a possible trial date in late 2026, largely due to the availability of prosecutors in the attorney general’s office, which prosecutes all homicide cases in the state.

State police arrested Coombs in June after a monthslong investigation.

According to an affidavit from Detective Einar Mattson of the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit – Central, Withee’s son and his wife found her dead on April 12.

Withee was lying on her back between a pickup truck and camper trailer outside her home at 456 Canaan Road in Hartland, Mattson wrote in the affidavit. Several items were placed around the body, which was partially covered by a tarp, the affidavit says.

Blood was visible on Withee’s clothing and body, the affidavit says.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office responded and requested assistance from major crimes detectives.

Two days later, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner ruled Withee’s death a homicide and determined the cause to be multiple gunshot wounds to her head, the affidavit says.

But authorities did not announce that her death had been ruled a homicide  until two weeks later. And they withheld the cause of Withee’s death until announcing Coombs’ arrest on June 12.

Over the course of the investigation, detectives determined Coombs was the last person to see Withee alive according to the affidavit.

Police also determined Withee died April 9 — three days before her body was discovered — based on her lack of phone calls and annotations on her calendar, the affidavit says.

Other evidence linked Coombs to the killing, too, police said.

“Blood, DNA and physical evidence recovered at (Coombs’) home and from inside her vehicle indicate that (Withee) was shot inside (Coombs’) vehicle and that (Withee) was the only other person present when this shooting occurred,” Mattson, the detective, wrote in the affidavit.

Mattson also wrote that investigators found some of Coombs’ statements and behaviors suspicious during their investigation.